Last Words of 7-year-old Boy Beaten to Death by his Father in Port Harcourt
It was also gathered that George’s stepmother, Blessing Inimgba, was also arrested by the police for failing to rescue the boy.
The incident, according to an eyewitness, happened on Saturday at about 12:30am at their residence in Amadi-Ama in Port Harcourt.
The 39-year-old suspect had accused his son of stealing N3,200 on Friday and reportedly used a cutlass to inflict cuts on the victim after beating him up with a plank. Sadly, George was found dead the following morning.
According to reports, Richard had wanted to keep George’s death a secret, but for a carpenter who raised the alarm on sighting the injuries on the little boy. Richard was said to have secretly invited the carpenter into his apartment to prepare a coffin for his burial.
Some neighbours and relatives of Richard, popularly known as Oyinbo, revealed that he had been maltreating the boy since he sent his mother packing six years ago.
The wife of Richard’s elder brother, who simply identified herself as K.K., said George requested water at the point of death, but the father continued the beating.
She said the boy’s attempts to explain that he used part of the money to feed himself because he was hungry fell on deaf ears.
According to her:
”He beat the boy for about two hours. My husband was not around. The boy was crying and saying, ‘Daddy, give me water, I cannot walk again.’
The boy was saying ‘Sorry Daddy’ and the man continued to ask, ‘Where is the money?’ But the boy said he was hungry and used the money to buy bread. He accused the son of stealing N3,200 from him overtime.
The boy was always hungry and if he came to my house to eat, the stepmother would report him to the father.
He went to his church to tell the pastor that his child was dead without explaining what led to the little boy’s death. It was when the carpenter raised the alarm that the neighbours knew that he had killed his son. There were machete cuts on George’s body. Some angry boys came out and gave Oyinbo the beating of his life before a team of mobile policemen arrested him and his wife,” K.K. narrated.
Also, a neighbour, who did not want her name mentioned, said Richard was arrested last year after he burnt George’s hand in the stove.
”He was arrested, detained for three days and was made to write an undertaking. It was at that point that the boy started going to school for the first time,” she said.
A psychologist, Sri George, who first shared the story on social media, said he had met with George on the street on Tuesday as people rallied round him after he was caught stealing a snack on the way to school.
Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni, said the matter was being investigated, adding that the man and the wife were in police custody.
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